As part of thinking about the changes in Spring we attempted to make birds’ nests. They had to be able to hold 2 ‘eggs’. Some nests needed some extra work after the test. Although all groups eventually passed this test we agreed they would not stand up to strong winds or actual adult birds sitting on them.

We’ve been learning about how different foods are made and what makes them. We looked at how foods like bread, pasta and cakes are made and learnt about wheat. We tasted some wheat, planted some wheat and then tried to grind some wheat to make flour for bread. It was very hard to grind but we started to make it into powder. We then added some more flour, butter, salt and milk to make a dough and rolled the dough into balls and cooked them. We ate them warm and they tasted very good.

After learning about inside the Earth and the effect of the movement of the Tectonic plates on natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanic eruptions we were keen to make our own volcano and eruptions. It took 4 weeks to make the volcanoes using chicken wire and paper mache with a plastic bottle inside. For the eruption we used detergent, vinegar, bicarbonate soda , warm water and food dye. The first time we followed a recipe. The 2nd and 3rd time we could adjust the recipe!

After learning about what things are made from and where different materials come from we made mini houses out of the different materials. We then had to test them with ‘rain’ and ‘wind’ and see if the little monkey stayed dry. Afterwards we talked about why we thought our house would last for the week in real weather or why not. The next week we checked our houses. Only the plastic house was a little bit damaged. We thought about how strong or heavy the different materials were and how that makes a difference as well as the design of the house. we learnt that a triangle shape is stronger than a square.

We knew one or two zucchinis were needing to be picked but we were surprised by how many there were and how huge some had grown. They camouflage themselves very well. Some people took them home for their parents to make zucchini slice or zucchini salad with. Some families shared a huge zucchini with a neighbour!

We tested sunscreen on sausages to see how well it worked and if different levels of sunscreen made a difference. We hypothesised that if we did a fair test and put the same amount of sunscreen on the sausages the sausage with no sunscreen would get very burnt, the one with 50+ sunscreen would be the most protected and the sausages with 30+ and tomatoe sauce would be a bit protected.

We put them in the sun for a day.

When we looked at them later our predictions were correct but if the sunscreen wasn’t put on exactly the same it made a difference.

Grades 3-6 had a go at experimenting with Centrifugal force, swinging a bucket with water in it around – as fast as possible! It was a bit tricky slowing down. This was in answer to a question about why the Sun’s gravitational pull doesn’t pull Earth and other planets right in.

Apart from our own gravitational pull Centrifugal force plays a part in Earth keeping a safe distance away.

Our job was to harvest the green grapes but it was a bit tricky because we needed to cut only the ripe bunches so we had to taste test them. If we didn’t think they were sweet we had to leave them and choose another bunch. Altogether we could cut 2 bunches each. We had to wash them first then Mrs martin had to do the final taste test. If we finished we then had to harvest any ripe tomatoes.

When we got back to class we shared them out and could take some home in a paper bag. Because we had been careful to pick the ripe ones nearly all of them were sweet. Someone said they taste as good as the shop bought grapes.